“I don’t understand why you keep coming back,” Devin confessed.
Moira wasn’t sure, either. She had no answer other than the craving that gnawed at her insides, the need to be by his side that kept tugging her back time and time again. How many days had they spent together now? She could barely stand the nights away from him.
Reckless yet rational. That was how Moira lived her life. She felt like she’d tilted entirely into reckless since reconnecting with Devin. Her job was already at risk. If she wrote the dating profile, then Devin would attract all sorts of attention she didn’t want him to get. She could write the piece revealing what he was, but Moira knew she would delete that video before the night ended.
What she feared more was her inability to be afraid of the hunter’s photos. They showed Devin destroying a car and carrying a woman off. He could have a cage waiting for Moira upstairs, but she didn’t believe it. Devin came off as gruff and aloof, but not dangerous.
Not when it came to her.
“Don’t question a good thing,” she told him.
He didn’t seem convinced, but he let the subject drop, picked up a dipping sauce that came with the eggrolls, and held it out for her to try. Moira wasn’t a food critic. She couldn’t even begin to explain the complexity of the sauce and how it interacted with the crispy eggroll. She moaned happily and let her eyes drift shut.
“I didn’t even know there was a Vietnamese restaurant in town.”
Devin leaned forward and braced his arm on the table, so her fingers brushed his forearm. “I could take you sometime. If you wanted.”
Another date? Moira found that she wanted it. She wanted every chance with him. So long as they were together, touching like this, she knew she couldn’t possibly send the video to her co-workers. Devin’s secret was safe with her.
That meant she needed to find a way to save her job, though. She didn’t have a dating profile to write or a bigger story to tell.
“Or you could go on your own,” Devin muttered.
“What? No, that’s not what I was going to say. I’m sorry. Work kind of invaded my mind for a moment. It’s just that…my deadline is on Wednesday and I don’t really have anything to show for it. That’s not really like me, and I’m a little ashamed.” Moira poked the smoked ribs on her plate.
Devin sighed. His lips parted like he had words of wisdom lined up for her, but a knock from the front door cut them off. His brow fell flat, and he turned a hot glare toward the door.
“Did you order dessert?” Moira joked.
Devin snorted and mumbled as he stood, “You were supposed to be dessert.”
Moira hadn’t expected that response, but once she heard it a bit of annoyance slithered into her. Not at Devin, but at whoever was on the other side of the door. She should have grabbed Devin and kept him from answering it, but she hadn’t been fast enough.
***
Devin growled at Atticus. The white-haired shifter grinned at his cousin and pushed deeper into the house. Devin had opened the door with every intention of scaring the visitor away, until he realized the visitors were his own family.
Frankie grinned like a devil. She and Atticus knew what they were interrupting. Devin wanted a single night alone with Moira, but his meddling family felt the need to interrupt. He would never understand them. This should have been the reason Devin avoided dating altogether.
“Auntie!” Crystal shouted before throwing herself into Moira’s arms.
Devin tried to tell Crystal that Moira wasn’t her aunt, but Crystal willfully ignored him as she situated herself on Moira’s lap. If Moira was bothered by Crystal’s presence, she didn’t show it. Instead, Moira hugged Crystal and tore off bits of the smoked ribs to feed to the child. Crystal was old enough to feed herself and sit in her own chair. Devin didn’t understand why she insisted on sitting in Moira’s lap.
“Mom and Dad didn’t want to cook tonight because my little brother is throwing a fit inside Mom,” Crystal began. “His tantrum made Mom tired, so we came here!”
Devin couldn’t argue with that. When he cut a glance at Frankie, he noticed the dark circles under her eyes had deepened. She drifted off to the living room and lay down with a hand over her belly. After a moment, she squirmed and rolled onto her side.
Devin stepped closer to his cousin and lowered his voice. “Is she going to be alright? Can she bear another dragon?”
Atticus’s jaw tightened. Any tighter and Devin thought his cousin’s teeth might shatter. Atticus didn’t look him in the eye, but Devin knew why. He remembered when the two met. Frankie did the impossible. She woke a slumbering dragon.
Thirteen years ago, Atticus burrowed into the earth. That should have been the last anyone saw of him. While Atticus slept, Devin kept busy by ruining his own life and turning the pack against himself. Then, miraculously, Atticus returned.
Devin had never heard of a mate bond waking a slumbering dragon before, but Frankie brought his cousin back to life. Now they were watching the life being drained from her. Her soft snore filled the nearby living room and filled Devin’s gut with dread.
He watched Moira and wondered if he would ever put her through that. He would keep from touching her ever again if it meant protecting her from the same fate. She caught him staring and flashed him a happy smile before Crystal dragged her attention away again. His heart warmed, and he knew he was in trouble.
He could almost see the tether between him and Moira, pulling taught and growing strong. His beast purred with happiness, a sound he wasn’t sure it’d ever made before. The sound took him by surprise. He wiped his hand over his face and fought the sickening mix of joy and dread that tried to overtake him.
Devin hadn’t allowed himself happiness in a very long time. He hadn’t even been happy running the business and the pack, no matter what he’d told himself at the time. But when he watched Moira feed Crystal boneless chicken wings from the bag of food Atticus set on the table, he thought he might have found a small scrap of happiness.
“I’m still pissed at you,” Devin added as Atticus passed him.
“You’ll get over it,” Atticus replied. “That or I’ll kick your ass again.”
“Frankie stopped that fight. We don’t know who would have won.”
Atticus snarled in warning. The man was wound tight with two of his loved ones at risk. Devin wished he could do more, but he wasn’t capable of much. The best he could do was watch Crystal so Atticus and Frankie could have some quiet time. Their first child was a dragon shifter, but Atticus and Devin suspected she would be a small dragon.
Their son, on the other hand, would be a massive beast if he survived.
Devin let Atticus disappear into the living room. Back in the dining room, Devin laid a soft kiss on the top of Moira’s head. It was instinctual. He hadn’t even thought about what the gesture might mean until she looked up at him. Her expression held no surprise, just warmth. The sight of it stole his breath.
He didn’t know how to speak after he sat down. Devin’s whole world had been shaken apart. Everything he tried to build around himself to protect others was now crumbling. Moira had ripped it apart. He wasn’t sure if he was sad to see it go, though. He knew he should have been more cautious, but he wanted to give her so much.
He would have ripped the moon from the sky for her, flying as high as he could to retrieve it for her. He would surpass all of his limits just to make her happy. With Crystal in her lap, Devin could see a glimpse of the future, a life as a family.
But fear trickled into his veins like ice. The pack would tell Moira stories about his past. He already knew Colton was chomping at the bit to tell Moira what Devin had done to Frankie. Colton tried to be his friend, once upon a time, but the incident with Frankie had blown all chances of that out of the water. Now, Colton saw Devin as nothing more than a monster.
Devin wondered what stories the pack would tell Moira. Would they warn her against his temper? Would they try to keep her away from him for her o
wn protection? His beast wouldn’t like that. The creature inside him wouldn’t let anyone take her away from him. The consequences…
He cringed at his own thoughts. Devin didn’t want to be that monster anymore. He wanted this little piece of the future where everything was infused with serenity and joy. Couldn’t he have that? He’d endured so much already. The want and need tightening his chest were almost unbearable.
Moira looked up from her conversation with Crystal and found Devin’s gaze. Silently, she asked him if he was okay. Concern furrowed her brow, a look Devin wasn’t sure anyone had given him before. He was all too used to being shoved to the side. He was the center of no-one’s world.
Beneath the table, a set of toes nudged his. Devin couldn’t help but smile. He leaned back in his chair and enjoyed the next few hours. As if Moira could read him like a book, a genuine smile brightened her face, and she turned back to Crystal. The child was busy, drawing dragons and unicorns on sheets of paper she produced from only God knows where.
In the living room, Devin could hear snippets of a conversation that Atticus and Frankie were trying to keep to themselves. Devin’s vision blurred as he tried to catch bits and pieces of it.
“What if this kills you?” Atticus’s voice strained, nearly breaking.
Frankie’s silence conjured an image of her features set in stubborn defiance.
“You need to accept help,” Atticus begged. “I want the both of you to have the best possible chance. I need you. I…”
“I’m not going to spend nine months laid up in bed rest!” Frankie said.
They all knew that if she kept going the way she was, the child growing inside her would take every last bit of what she had left. Devin couldn’t see Frankie giving in to doctor-mandated bed rest, but she needed to accept help. Even if that help consisted of him or Althea watching Crystal for a few hours every day.
School kept Crystal busy during the day, but it did nothing to drain the young shifter of her energy. Atticus and Frankie didn’t even have to drop their daughter off. Devin would gladly come to them. Maybe Frankie thought he would set a pizza on fire at their place.
Once Crystal began to nod off in Moira’s lap, Atticus came to claim his daughter. He thanked Devin for keeping the little girl busy, but Devin had to pass acknowledgement to Moira.
“It was my pleasure,” Moira said softly. She smoothed Crystal’s hair back from her face.
Devin’s heart stuttered, tripping and falling over itself. He was about two minutes away from throwing Moira over his shoulder and carrying her upstairs where he would lock the door and keep her forever. He would get down on his knees and give her the thanks she deserved.
This date hadn’t ended the way Devin wanted, but there were still a number of hours left in the night. They sent the young family on their way, then found themselves alone in Devin’s manor.
Chapter Nine
Nothing played out as Moira had expected, but she couldn’t say she was upset. A contented feeling curled in her center like a sleepy cat. It stretched and relaxed again when Devin pulled her into his body, her back flush against his front. She couldn’t recall the last time she felt this good.
“Are they going to be okay?” Moira asked.
Several minutes ticked by. “They have a lot of support. All Frankie needs to do is lean on the people who love her. You’ve met Althea already. She and I would do just about anything for that family.”
Moira smiled. “You have all this talk of being a monster or an asshole, but you’re not a bad guy. I think you’re actually a really good guy.”
He let her go and went to clean up the table. She felt cold without him, like he was the fire that warmed her tired soul. She drifted toward him and leaned to peer at his features. They were a blank mask, hiding whatever he felt.
“So, you have a reputation to uphold? Are you afraid that people will figure out that you’re not the big bad dickhead they all think you are?”
Slowly, he turned to glare at her, but she could see the smile he tried holding back. Moira pushed further, driven by the spark of happiness dancing inside her.
“You act all big and tough, but inside you’re a big softie! I know your secret now. What are you going to do to make me keep it quiet? Are you willing to pay the price?”
When he whirled on her, pinning her to the edge of the table, and revealed his blazing inhuman eyes, she recalled the great beast inside him. Moira knew more than just one secret of his. Maybe he thought this would frighten her and make her quiet, but she cupped his cheek in her hand. His eyes drifted shut, and he leaned into her touch.
“You don’t know the worst about me,” he whispered.
“You’d be surprised. I’m an awfully understanding person.”
He pressed forward and she wound her arm around the back of his neck. He nipped the soft skin of her throat and brought a cry from her. She bucked in his arms, wanting more. They’d been playing at this for days. She ached for his touch, for the feeling of him inside her.
Moira locked her legs behind him, and he lifted her from the table.
“This date is far from over,” she said.
His growl echoed off the walls, but it didn’t scare her. Instead, it tightened her core and made her want into a feral creature. She dug her nails into his back as he carried her up the stairs. He cradled her with one arm while his hand slid under her sweater in search of her bra.
At the top of the landing, he paused. His hand, fingers splayed out wide, rested between her shoulder blades. “You’re not wearing a bra.”
“I, uh…It’s a different kind of bra,” she tried to explain.
“What is this nonsense?”
“I’ll show you if you take me to your bedroom,” she said.
“Where else did you think I was taking you? I finally have you all to myself. Did you think I was taking you upstairs just to throw you off the roof?”
She tried not to laugh, but it escaped her anyway. “That’s so romantic of you.”
He quieted her with a kiss that scrambled her thoughts. Warm pleasure filled her core and would have made her beg for more if Devin didn’t already have command of her lips. She threaded her fingers through his hair and tugged. He groaned in her hands, the sound turning the heat inside her molten hot.
Devin kicked open the door and carried her to the bed. He gently laid her on a bed of black satin. She wanted to peer at his private chambers, but she couldn’t take her attention off the man standing before her, unbuckling his pants to release his cock. She’d taken him before, in her mouth, in her core.
Yet, this time felt like the first all over again. He ran his fingertips up her legs and sent shivers through her body. Her heart pattered a nervous beat as he reached for the waistband of her leggings.
She wanted him to touch every part of her like that. Writhing, she tried to beg for more. Devin hooked his fingers in her waistband and tugged. The leggings peeled away so his knuckles could graze her bare skin. Moira sat up, gripped the front of his shirt, and pulled him down for a kiss. With her other hand, she reached for his cock.
His growl seemed larger than himself, larger than the room. Moira knew she was hearing the dragon inside him, but she couldn’t find it in herself to be afraid of the creature. Seeing Devin with his niece filled Moira with confidence. Devin wasn’t a monster. He wasn’t going to hurt her.
“I want you,” she breathed.
“We’ve barely even begun,” he told her and pulled his cock from her grasp.
She pouted, but he stood up, grabbed the backs of her knees, and yanked her to the edge of the bed. The sight of him kneeling before her, his eyes on hers, stole her breath away. They hadn’t done this eight years ago. This was all new territory.
He parted her folds with his tongue and conjured the first flickers of sensation inside her. She bit her lower lip and dug her fingers into the soft bedding while he teased the sensation into a firestorm. It built behind a dam and pressed against her lungs until she l
ed her breath to keep from spilling it. She should have known better because with a flick of his tongue, Devin broke all the walls. Her orgasm rushed out and made her arch into him.
Just when she thought he would lift his cock to her opening, he pulled her tighter to his face. He teased her aftershocks until they became tiny bombs inside her core. She shook with the force of their pleasure and couldn’t imagine she had anything left inside her.
Moira wanted to say that he didn’t have to do that, but she couldn’t find her breath. She spasmed with the lingering orgasm. It tingled her fingertips and curled her toes.
“Now, it’s my turn,” Devin growled.
He turned her over, so her face pressed into the soft sheets, and lifted her hips. Moira spread her legs instinctively. At first, he rubbed his cock between her folds. She cried out, the explosive orgasms summoned all over again. Devin let out a satisfied laugh behind her.
She should have done something, reached for him, tried to please him, but she felt boneless. Pleasure had rendered her languid.
“Are you ready for this?” Devin asked, poised at her opening. “If you’re not up to it we can still stop. If we…” His voice became gruff, like he was fighting himself. “If we need protection, we can pause.”
“Fuck me,” she demanded.
“Your wish is my command.” Devin gently pushed inside her.
The bed swallowed her moans of pleasure. Every inch was pure torture when she wanted all of him inside her at once. Devin took his time, though. Moira didn’t know if he was being cautious or teasing. She wriggled her hips to take more of him. He placed a hand on her lower back to steady her.
She heard his low growl, though. She knew he wanted her as badly as she wanted him. Moira threw her hips back until he filled her, so her skin touched his.
“Succubus,” he whispered.
She grinned into the sheets until he began thrusting. The pleasure doubled every time he slammed home inside her. This was more than she remembered. Being with Devin again banished the memory that had gone cold. She replaced it with the fire burning between them now.
Dragon Desire (Tooth & Claw Book 1) Page 8
